Britons 'Not Excited' About 2012 Olympics
The majority of people in Britain are not excited about the London Olympics, with fewer than one in 10 "very excited" about the Games.
An exclusive Sky News poll has found a distinct apathy for next year's Games, with only 8% "very excited", compared with 60% who are unexcited about the event.
The news comes on the day the Olympic organisers announced the details for next year’s torch relay.
The 70-day, 8,000-mile relay will snake across the length and breadth of the nation.
It will start at Land's End on May 19 before reaching the opening ceremony at the Olympic Stadium in east London on July 27.
The route will take in all corners of the UK with the promise that 95% of the population will be within a one hour journey of the procession.
But the YouGov results suggest exactly one year before the relay gets under way, the general sentiment outside London is unenthusiastic.
Some 49% of Londoners are excited about the Games, but interest wanes the further people live from the capital.
While 43% of people in the south of England are excited, in Wales, the Midlands and the north of England, the total is less than one third.
In Scotland, just 20% of people have been bitten by Olympic fever.
Location is not the only defining factor - it seems age plays a part too.
Almost half of those aged between 18 and 24 are looking forward to the Games, compared with less than one third of over-60s.
But it is the geographical element that will be of most interest to the Olympic organisers, who have promised to deliver the Games for all of the UK, not just the capital.
Lord Coe, chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog), told Sky News he is relaxed about the findings at this stage of preparation.
"The nature of British people is that they don't get overly excited about things too quickly," he said.
"They weren't in the streets six weeks, six days, they probably weren't even contemplating street parties three days before the Royal Wedding.
"I do not think you can force-feed people into levels of excitement.
"For me, let's put the dry statistics aside, let's look at the reality of what is happening out there. The support is palpable.
"My instinct is that, slowly, people are really beginning to understand the extraordinary nature of what we've got in just over a year's time."
While the survey might suggest a lack of interest in the Games, tickets for five sports events and the opening and closing ceremonies sold out in the first round - with 1.8 million applicants making 20 million requests.
After a six-week online application period for the 6.6 million tickets available to the public, London 2012 said that more than half of the 650 competition sessions in 26 sports were oversubscribed.
http://news.sky.com/story/855849/britons-not-excited-about-2012-olympics